


The Kids are Alright

by GamerJuices



Category: Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings, Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound, Mother 3
Genre: Gen, THE BOIS ARE HERE, ebic gamer moment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29480661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamerJuices/pseuds/GamerJuices
Summary: The 4 psi bois have some good times
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	1. Chappy Uno

Lucas did not cry for his brother. He had given up holding in his tears and in such a situation he found no reason he should, though he could not. His eyes had long past dried at that point from countless guilt-ridden outbursts of sadness to the point here he had no tears left for the most deserving case of all. That alone darkened his mind, and in addition to the shadows casted from everything already helplessly lodged into his brain paralyzed Lucas. Kumatora, perhaps his most fervent encourager, tenderly placed her outstretched arm on his shoulder, casting a look of understanding and sincerity into the frozen boy. Boney barked beneath his feet, encouraging him to raise his head and continue, though Lucas remained unmoving. His mind remained too cloudy to move, too cloudy to act, even too cloudy to think. He simply stared into the rocky floor beneath him, as far away from reality as he had ever been. 

Finally, Duster gently shook him, rousing his eyes and activating his brain once more. Lucas still said nothing and locked his eyes on the golden needle in front of him. His brain urged him to approach it but his body simply refused. Eventually, after a long silence and a gentle push from Duster once more, his legs conceded and stiffly marched forwards, halting directly in front of the needle. Lucas closed his eyes. The key to everything, to resetting the world, to fixing all of its problems, to reunite his broken family, stood in front of him, yet he was terrified to embrace it. Along his journey he had learned to face fear head-on, to spit in its image and power through its grasps, though none of his experiences had prepared him for this. It was not a massive and seemingly undefeatable beast towering over him, nor a virtually impassable mountain standing between him and his goal, it was simply the unknown, and the knowledge that he alone would reshape the world. 

Closing his eyes one last time, Lucas gathered all of his strength and firmly gripped the needle. It felt like nothing he had ever laid his hands on before. It was smooth yet jagged, warm yet cool, it melted in his hands yet remained unmoving between his fingers. With one final breath, swelling his chest, Lucas pulled on the needle, slowly lifting it out of the ground until it shot into the air with ease and dissolved into an explosion of rainbow particles. A wave of warmth flowed through him, pulsating as it passed over his heart. Lucas twisted his head around in search for a reaction. Almost immediately, vibrations tickled at his feet. They began soft, though quickly rose in intensity until the walls of the cave surrounding the group began to furiously shake, threatening to collapse at any second. Before it could do so completely, chunks of rock dove from the ceiling, shattering at the heels of Lucas and his friends. Boney whimpered at his master’s feet, receiving a distant and distracted pat as Lucas’s eyes quickly shot across the room as now boulders began to tumble from the ceiling. He quickly turned and dashed towards Kumatora and Duster, but a large stalactite quickly blocked his path. Obscured from his friends, Lucas began to panic. The groaning of the cave still increased and a searing pain shot through Lucas’s head. He quickly gripped Boney between his arms and sprinted forwards. Hammers seemed to bang against his head, ever increasing in intensity as the grumbles of the cave had. Suddenly, the earth itself ruptured open, almost swallowing Lucas whole as he nimble leaped out of the way, still carrying his dog. 

In that moment, his brother resurfaced in his mind and Lucas desperately scanned his surroundings for him. As he continued to rush around the room, he spotted the unmistakable fire-red of his brother’s hair poking out from behind a boulder. Lucas quickly rounded it and kneeled down in front of his brother’s limp body. He quickly locked his arms around his brothers’, grasping him and slowly and taxingly as he dragged him towards a corner of the cave. He yelled out to Kumatora and Duster, but could not hear a response if it was even attempted. Boney whined in fear and licked the dead boy’s face, still attempting to wake him as if he had simply fallen asleep. The room continued to collapse and the walls began to bear in on Lucas. He attempted to cast psi at it, though to little effect. He realized he was sweating profusely and breathing quickly and heavily. His eyes began to fade as his vision blurred and his legs wobbled, though he quickly and forcefully brought his hand to his cheek to snap out of it. A panic attack was the last thing he needed, though it was starting to seem as if the inevitable would soon arrive nonetheless. Lucas pushed his head against his brother’s unmoving chest, silently and hastily praying for a rescue. A rumble above him attracted his eyes, which widened in horror as a boulder fell from the ceiling, rushing down to crush him.   
Lucas squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the impact. He hoped his death would be quick. A second or two of agony was of course expected, but he prayed for no more and a quick release from the physical world. After a few seconds of terror he realized such pain never arrived. Perhaps he had been crushed instantly, sparing him of any pain. Lucas nervously opened his eyes, then goggled in confusion at his surroundings, or lack thereof. A thick black void surrounded him on all sides, seemingly existing in any direction forever. He looked below him and gasped. Like his senses hinted, he was not standing, instead he floated freely in the endless abyss surrounding him. Lucas wondered if this was the afterlife. He had desired more than anything to meet his mother and brother again in it, though they, or anyone else, were nowhere in sight. Perhaps he was in a terminal, waiting to be assigned to his eternal rest.   
A sudden booming voice interrupted Lucas’s thoughts.   
“Hello little one,” it said, surrounding Lucas, who did not respond. “I have been waiting for you,” it continued slowly. “Waiting for someone to free me of my eternal slumber, someone to remold the world in their image. Now little one, what do you see in your new reality?”  
Lucas’s face quickly paled. His mind had only dreamed of awakening the Dark Dragon itself, being granted the ability to fix the world and reverse it from the horrible place it had become. He had never truly considered how he would rebuild.  
“Oh, uh, w-well,” he began. “I want the w-world to reset. Completely. To b-before the Pigmasks came a-and before Porky ruined it. O-oh and also, I want a-all my friends to be safe.” Lucas carefully pondered what he could next request. Any mishap or slip of the tongue have had horrible effects on his new world, he needed to proceed carefully.   
His omniscient watcher took his silence as content. “It will be done.”  
“W-w-wait!” Lucas cried. “Theres m-more!” His plans were not complete. His new world needed to be perfect, devoid of any of the flaws that had led the previous one to ruin. More importantly, he needed his family. “B-bring back Claus! And my-”  
Before he could finish his request, the void closed in on him, collapsing in on itself until it had completely dissolved. Lucas desperately screamed for more, but it was too late. The world sealed shut.

***

Lucas’s eye slowly flickered open as a frigid wave marched down his back. He lifted his head, bringing it out of the ground and stared wide-eyed at the world around him. His surroundings failed to rouse any recognition, he was sure he had never seen them before. He wondered if this was the afterlife. He had expected endless fields of sunflowers, sunny cloudless skies, and most importantly, to be reunited with his family. Wherever he was had met none of his hopes. His mind attempted to recall the events he had last experienced. He could not remember or recognize how long ago they had occurred. It felt like a lifetime ago he last laid eyes on his brother, trapped in the crumbling cave, though he had not been conscious for any of the following time.

Realization suddenly hit him like a splash of ice water. Was this the new world? As he remembered more and more, his memories came back to him in larger and larger swarms. The Dark Dragon must have been real, the final needle must have awoken it, and this must be the reset world Lucas created through his requests. If it was created in his image and to his request as he had been led to believe, all his desires in such a place must exist. Lucas sprang to his feet, wading through the deep snow around him and ignoring the freezing numbness of it creeping up his legs. He searched enthusiastically yet cautiously for the same indistinguishable tuft of red hair he had previously done in the cave. He figured it would not be difficult to spot through the layer of bleached-white snow blanketing the ground, though his increasingly-desperate searches proved fruitless. Seeing as he had awoken above the carpet of snow, he assumed anyone else arriving in his situation would do the same. He continued, now frantically, searching around him for any clues or signs of his brother. He began to sprint now, furiously knocking over piles of snow. Eventually, he began to lose hope, though did not remain entirely pessimistic. None of his other friends, Kumatora, Duster, or even Boney were anywhere to be seen, so there was no proof his brother was not somewhere in the midst of this new land. 

Despite his newfound hope, Lucas was crushed by anger and resentment towards his incompetence. He had one chance to perfect the world, keep it from falling back into the darkness its previous incarnation had, and he never took the time to consider how he could do so. He was not one to let his tongue lose and spew foul language, especially towards others, but he could not stop cursing himself for his stupidity and ignorance. He even had a chance to reunite his family and he had squandered it over indecisiveness and naivety. Curling into a ball on the ground, Lucas closed his eyes and silently wept, though his eyes still failed to produce any tears. He wished the boulder had just crushed him back in the cave. Instead, he lived in an empty and flawed new world, alone, worse off than he had begun. His friends, his dog, and most importantly his family were nowhere to be seen. Lucas was left in the frigid cold, finally allowing the freezing wind and rugged snow seep its chills into his body, reducing him to a shivering indistinguishable mass amongst the snowy hills. He knew his mortality was not at stake, his psi would not allow him to perish, which currently served no other purpose than to upset him more. 

The cold had finished making its way through Lucas’s body and finally reached his brain, sinking itself into his mind and freezing his thoughts. He remained still, save for the frantic shivering of his body in a desperate attempt to fight the conditions he left himself in. His vision began to cloud over and a thick fog seemed to settle over his face. Five minutes later, his body was barely clinging on to consciousness, though his mind had already long-past given up. Just as soon as his eyelids froze shut, he suddenly felt his body lift out of the snowdrift that has amassed around him. He barely noticed his sudden rise from the ground, still staring blankly out into the distance. He remained like so until he received a prod to his neck and a black glove obscured his eyesight. Someone had pulled Lucas out of the snow and was attempting to reach him, though he did not notice until then. 

“Hellooooo, anyone there?” a voice resonated through his ears. The words seemed to echo through his head then fall right out the other ear until Lucas shook his head and stared at his unrequested savior. A dark-haired boy kneeled before him, donned in a winter coat, thick pants, and a red and blue baseball cap. Realizing he had finally reached Lucas, the boy shook him awake for good measure. “What are you doin’ in the snow all by yourself, especially with nothin’ but a t-shirt and jeans,” the boy laughed, poking Lucas in the chest, who quickly recoiled. “You need me to call your parents or something?”

Lucas carefully studied the face of the other boy. He was likely around his age though likely older, as seen by his much more developed and mature features. He had boring brown eyes, at least in Lucas’s impression and thick black hair poked out in all directions from his striped baseball cap. He was larger and stockier than Lucas, though that did not suggest much. 

“You ever speak?” He asked. Lucas did not reply. By that point the other boy’s illusions of normalcy of Lucas shattered and he truly began to wonder about him. “I’ve never seen you around, where are you from?” Still no answer. “You seem pretty shaken up, you need help?” Lucas slowly nodded, finally participating in communication with the boy. “I can take you back to my house or somethin’, then we can call your parents,” he continued. “How’s that sound? I’ll take that as a yes.” He hoisted Lucas to his feet, though he quickly crumpled back down to the ground. “Jeez, you’re actually hurt or somethin’,” the boy quietly said. 

Suddenly, Lucas found himself being lifted off the ground and onto the boy’s back.

“Hold on tight, this may be a bumpy ride. Nice to meet you by the way, the name’s Ness.”


	2. Chappa Doo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> intro to Ninten

Rays of warming yellow sunlight pierced through the windows of Ninten’s bedroom, finally waking him from his night of keeping his eyes glued to the television and cramming as much junk food as possible into his mouth. His stomach hurt, giving him an excuse to remain lazily sprawled across a beanbag in the middle of his floor. It was eleven in the afternoon, though his late awakening did not shock him. It simply was. He suddenly remembered he had planned on completing homework, a task he had hoped he would have already completed by now. In the back of his mind he knew he should have completed it when ample time still graced him and it was not already a Sunday afternoon, the worst time to dedicate oneself to any meaningful task. He sighed, scratched his back, and threw his shirt over his head before wandering out the door of his room, revealing a heavily-adorned hallway branching off from a huge entranceway. Gravity, his constant enemy, continued to weigh Ninten down as if he had dumbbells in his pants, though he persisted in his brave quest to the kitchen. 

Slowly trodding down the stairs, Ninten slowly drew his half-open pupils around the room, again viewing the countless decorations lining the wall and grand, in his opinion far too overblown, doorway protecting his family from the sad reality outside their castle. Ninten had never been one to parade about with boasts of his family’s wealth, a quality he applauded himself for, though in reality he never really saw the point. Ness always marveled at this or that, some dull trinket or old painting whenever he visited his friend’s mansion or a house, though Ninten never understood it. He much preferred to instead visit his friend’s much quieter abode, and while it reflected his lower-class lifestyle skirting on the edge of poverty, it held a charm his own could not claim it had. 

When he finally arrived at the kitchen table, a relatively modest addition, at least compared to the rest of his sprawling home, he sank into his chair like a plate of jello, allowing his head to rest against the cold hard marble of the island. He could have easily lifted his head up and simply remained in a normal position, but he found it worth it to sacrifice his comfortability and gave into his exhaustion. Despite his late slumber, he had still failed to receive enough sleep and his body continued to tell him so. 

Ninten found himself staring absent-mindedly out the window. When his eyes snapped to attention, he noticed the snowdrifts of the previous days melting, though still a respectable amount remained. The roads though had been cleared long before, erasing any doubt of a skipped day of school tomorrow. Ninten groaned. It was at that point he began to wonder why he had even dragged himself downstairs, his appetite was still abysmal. If he knew any better than to act in such an irresponsible way, he simply did not care. 

His ears quivered as they picked up the faint sound of his two younger sisters playing some sort of ridiculous game in their room. He did not care what, but he was sure the rules of said game did not involve their obnoxious volume. The sounds brought his attention to his hammering headache. It was as if they were in the kitchen with him yelling into his ear with a megaphone. He wondered if this was what being hungover was like. His mind quickly flipped to the subject of the rest of his family. His father was most definitely out working again, Ninten was unsure if he had even come home the previous night or not. His mother was absent as well. While her presence was not exactly obvious to Ninten, she was clearly busy as well, likely tirelessly toiling away at some job to sustain the income flow that supported their bourgeoisie lifestyle. She had given up leaving notes or any sort of notification of her departure, leading to hours to even days where Ninten was on his own, save the two brats of siblings he had to take care of. 

Ninten groaned again, louder this time, though no one was around to feel his pain or express any sympathy. He pondered forcefully quieting down his sisters, though he knew the energy required to successfully do so outweighed what he had in his current condition. A sound reason as to why they were required to make such an excess of noise still eluded Ninten, edging him on to go yell at them, though he simply did not have it in him to cover his ears, much less straighten them out. He would not be able to visit Ness or anyone one while his parents eluded the responsibility of watching over his sisters, yet another burden they placed on him. Ninten would be lying if he did not admit he pitied himself.

Suddenly, outside looked rather tempting. Ninten had failed to take a single step outside any of the many doors in his house into the beautiful world surrounding him for a decent length of time, at least since it had begun snowing. It was the perfect excuse to avoid practicing baseball, Ness had not once called him asking if he wanted to hit the field. Ninten had long ago grown tired of formulating excuses. He wondered if Ness was too dense to get the message or simply felt his friend’s lack of motivation may one day cave in. 

Ninten had oftentimes found himself pondering if he even enjoyed the game. Sure he was able to hang out with his own friends consistently and enjoyed nothing more than mocking a poor play or strikeout by an opponent or even teammate, though no matter how hard he attempted to change how he perceived the activity, he was not keen to the whole athletic side of the game. Unfortunately, it consisted of most aspects of the game. Despite his mounting complaints about the sport, the idea of simply walking away from it never once entered his mind. Baseball was the one sport he could get away with being as generally unathletic as he was, as long as he could hit a ball, or in his case, throw well. Quitting baseball would leave Ninten spotless and vulnerable to the vicious forces of expectation and the school hierarchy, at least as he saw it.

In his mind, to rise above the rest and achieve the ability to look down on his inferior classmates, it was necessary to be part of a high enough place in the class system of school he envisioned in his head. Mental superiority brought one nowhere but downwards in said system, which of course was what Ninten excelled at. To truly climb up the vicious hierarchy he himself had created and kept himself to, Ninten needed to participate in a sport. Baseball was an obvious enough choice for the aforementioned reasons, and it was also what Ness played. Ness was the opposite side of his coin, the brawn to his brains, at least in the case of their chosen sport. He excelled in it as much as Ninten did in mental capabilities, though of course one quality was much more important than the other. Ninten was unsure whether he could deny his jealousy of his friend.

Eventually it was settled. Still gripping his stomach in discomfort, Ninten tossed on his buttoned cap and swung the huge gate of a front door open, bravely marching out of his house and into the frigid outside world. He was unsure of his current plan completely, though he had already dragged himself outside, he might as well make the most of it. Ninten pondered over what exactly he should practice. His worst aspects as a player were the most obvious fields to work in, not to improve his usefulness to the team and avoid the potentially competitive a dropoff of future tryouts, but to avoid any embarrassing failures, the looming threat that motivated his progress in the sport. The last time he had struck out, on an obvious ball no less, still hid in its mind, refusing to budge, along with an embarrassing trip while sprinting from last game and a game-deciding botched catch from over a year ago. 

Much faster and more efficient methods of reaching his destination existed, though Ninten had no problem with stretching his legs and was still unsure exactly where his body was taking him. He wandered absent-mindedly past a string of shops lined up against the dull concrete road. Ninten was unimpressed by their showmanship, the only somewhat enthralling storefront he could find was adorned in a bright neon sign, though a few of the letters were faded, resulting in a scrambled nonsense of remaining letters. He gazed up at the gathering of clouds amassed above him and the rest of the town, now only releasing the occasional delicate snowflake compared to their massive numbers piled up on the ground and against the curb. Even the weather was boring. It would take a miracle for school to close, current conditions considered. 

The scraping of Ninten’s bat against the rough concrete below screamed of wasted money and was quickly raised over the boy’s shoulder. The added weight strained Ninten too much for his preference and allowed his athletic instrument to touch the ground again. As he finally approached the end of the road, Ninten’s eyes were briefly and forcibly shut by a sudden blast of color in the near distance. He groaned in annoyance. It better not have been some new type of foe or terror of the town, he was long-past dealing with their rampant abundance. He swore it was as if the fabric of the sky had loosely torn before being resewn again, though its brief opening had allowed something to fall through. Ninten quickened his pace to a brisk jog, swinging his head around to ensure safety from any ambush. Whatever had fallen through that portal of sorts must have landed close by before him, so he further sped until he was quickly swinging his legs and propelling himself forwards, staying nimble to outflank and quickly react to the potential enemy.

After weaving through some trees and bounding over fallen logs, Ninten stumbled upon what must have been the crash site. The snow around was scattered further out, leaving a notable circular indent in the snowdrift, in the middle of which an unmoving mass lay. He slowly approached to gain the benefit of stealth over the potential living and hostile creature. Ninten was soon able to make out a limp body sprawled in the center of the indent of snow. Now tiptoeing, he finally reached the body and prodded it with his foot. The body remained limp, not to his surprise. After a few more attempts to rouse the being, Ninten used his right leg to slowly gain leverage over the unmoving form. He flipped it over carefully, revealing a youthful boyish face, perhaps slightly older than himself, molded onto an unconscious body. What stuck out to Ninten the most was the boy’s hair. The style was not unusual or noteworthy, but his eyes were suddenly drawn to its bright-red coloring. He had never seen such natural vibrant colors on a person and was almost surprised that the fire-red adorning the top the other boy’s did not melt the ice and snow surrounding it. 

Two strange artifacts, some sort of electrical spark-emitting sword and a reinforced metal helmet lay scattered around the boy. They were clearly his though did not seem to suit him. At that point, the necessity to attempt to rouse or at least aid the poor boy in some way finally crossed Ninten’s mind, and he pondered on how to deal with the unconscious body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like some feedback about preferred length of chapters. I write about 1,000-1,200 words a day and was release a relatively short chapter about every 2 days, (about 2,000-2,4000 words). I'd like to know if it would be better to make them longer, though they would come out less frequently, or if I should stick to what I got on both stories I am current working on.  
> Thank you :)


	3. Chape Twa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to N-Dog's house

Ness was always happy to help. That was why he had no qualms carrying a boy he had just met back to his house. After all, he was clearly injured, and who knows what may have happened to him at the mercy of the wilderness? Ness’s forest expedition had proved successful, not only had he begun to explore an unrecognized section, land he liked to believe had never been trodden by another human, he had found someone, a boy his age and more importantly, in need of assistance. Though his mind was normally empty of thought, void and peaceful and Ness simply enjoyed the landscape surrounding him, he could not help but wonder where the strange boy had come from. He was not of Onett, that much he was sure of. Ness possessed a particular knack for forgetting faces, though he was positive a boy of his hometown would at least rouse some sort of recognition. Perhaps he had just moved in. Ness satisfied himself with his simple explanation. 

That led him to wonder what may have left the boy in his fragile condition. His face was badly bruised and his thin limbs weak. The boy appeared so fragile Ness feared the boy may completely shatter if dropped. He readjusted the boy in a safer position. His boney elbows began to dig into Ness’s back, though he ignored it. The boy had clearly engaged in some sort of conflict, though if he won or lost he was not sure. His initial impressions of the boy whispered an obvious answer. Despite Ness’s quest and his general commitment to clearing any remnants of hostile life after the invasion, the occasional raving hound or metal Starman would find a way to cause trouble. Fortunately, they seemed to be attracted to Ness, who was more than capable of dealing with them. Despite their constant inconvenience, he was glad they no longer terrorized the helpless. 

Ness suddenly twitched as his cargo dug his elbow into his back and began to groan. Ness’s face morphed into a concerned expression as he lay down the boy on the ground. He looked down at him, finally supplying him a decent view of his helpless friend. His blond hair, though filthy and trampled, eminated near-blinding beams of light. Ness imagined his hair would equate to staring at the sun when clean. A confused expression from the boy snapped Ness out of his focused stare, bringing him down to one knee next to him.

“Everything alright?” he asked. 

“W-water… please.” The boy’s throat was dry as a desert, Ness wondered why he had not simply asked earlier. He quickly shed his backpack, bringing his arm through it and fiddling with the zipper until it complied. His hand shot into the bag, blindly searching until it came across and firmly gripped a bottle of water and brought it out. Ness unscrewed the cap and tenderly passed it over to the parched boy. 

Instead of quickly gouging on as much water as his throat could handle at once, the boy stared in confusion at the strange cylinder in Ness’s hand.   
“Something wrong?” Ness asked. 

The boy delicately took the bottle as if it were made of glass and stared at it. He ran his hand over its smooth surface and squeezed it, rousing shock in his eyes when it bent in his grip. 

“What, you’ve never seen plastic before?” Ness laughed.

A deep red tide washed over the boy’s face as he closed his eyes and let the water flow down his throat and into his body, restoring part of his strength and fighting off the threat of dehydration. He soon found himself uncontrollably guzzling the water, so much so that a pool began to form in his throat and he quickly choked it up. 

Ness again laughed, though quickly contained himself as he took back the bottle. “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh about that,” he smiled. “You okay?”

The boy nodded back. His lips slowly began to curve in a smile of his own as he pulled himself to his knees, then, slowly, to his feet. His legs still threatened to give out and send him tumbling back to the ground, though he remained upright. His arms shot outwards to maintain balance as he filled his lungs with air. 

“I can still help you if you want,” Ness assured, shuffling up next to the boy, though the recovering boy shook his head. He began a slow yet confident limp forwards on his own, though occasionally leaned on the boy beside him to prevent a fall. Ness gave him credit, he was persistent. He had to slow his pace considerably in order to match the gradual pace, though he did not mind. A smile on the boy’s face suggested he was much happier with walking on his own. 

Eventually, he boys reached a line of houses indicating their arrival into town. By that point, the sun’s similarly sluggish pace brought it to its destination as well and it began to dip below the horizon, painting the sky a beautiful mix or orange and purple. Ness suddenly stopped after noticing his friend’s absence from his side. He turned around to find him gazing in awe at the evening sky. His mouth hung ajar like an opened jar of pickles and his eyes were glazed over in the palette of the heavens above. Ness smiled. The boy had a dramatic reaction to everything, a quality he found endearingly amusing. 

With a slight prod from his friend, the boy’s eyes finally lowered and he continued forwards. Ness again found himself alone as he continued forwards. He turned around to see the boy stuck on the curb, poking the street below with his foot. The boy was strange, Ness had already known that, but it seemed as if he had simply never seen anything like it. His reaction mirrored that of his exposure to Ness’s plastic bottle, subtly hinting at the reality of the situation. The boy suddenly spoke again, interrupting his thought.

“W-w-what is this stuff?” 

“Uh, a road.” Ness replied in confusion. “Concrete I guess.” A peculiar theory entered his mind. “Wait, have you never seen this before?”

The boy shook his head.

“Where are you even from?” Ness questioned suspiciously.

“I-I don’t know how t-to answer that,” the boy sputtered.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, w-where am I?”

“We’re in Onett right now, we just got here, which is in Eagleland... on the planet Earth Ever heard of any of these?”

“Well,” the boy mumbled, finding a new fascination in the ground, “o-only Earth. Never heard of any E-eagleland or Onett.”

Ness would have been confident the boy was hiding the truth from him, though the sincerity in his eyes and unwavering voice led him to believe otherwise. Once reaching said conclusion, his mind hit a dead end. If he truly had not heard of the largest civilization on the planet, where could he be from? Perhaps some primitive village in the middle of nowhere, but how would he have wandered into Onett? His mind swam with questions as he observed the boy continue to rub the road with the bottom of his foot.  
“It’s perfectly safe, I swear,” he assured, locking eyes with the nervous boy.

The boy gulped and shut his eyes, cautiously placing his right foot on the hard concrete. He realized Ness was not lying and moved the rest of his body onto the pavement. 

“So you don’t have any of where you are or where you came from?” Ness continued to prod as they made their way down the long winding road.

“I l-lived in a small village. Called Tazmily. I-it was part of this h-huge set of islands, called Nowhere. Everything around it apart f-from a few outlying islands was w-water. No one ever t-tried to leave and no one ever t-talked about what was beyond it.”

“Hmm, strange. So how did you end up here?”

The boy’s eyes again shot down to his feet and his mouth moved in silent speech. Eventually, his face rose and he answered. “I j-just woke up here… I g-guess.”

Ness could not decide if the boy’s shy demeanor impeded his normal speech or if he was a terrible liar. Nevertheless, he dropped the subject and continued in silence. Stranger events than a boy appearing from nowhere, literally, had occurred, mostly centralized around his epic quest. 

Eventually, the duo arrived at a modest yet charming abode. Ness slipped his arm under the doormat and pulled out a key, unlocking the front door and ushering his friend inside. He expected an equally shocked and awed reaction to his house, especially the insides, but the boy remained expressionless as his eyes meandered around its open walls. His house was nothing special, perhaps even less so than average, it was certainly possible the boy’s own dwelling did not differ greatly. As they approached the kitchen, Ness’s mother could be heard humming and fiddling with cooking equipment, causing the boy to slow his stride and drop behind his friend as if he were a shield, rousing a chuckle in Ness.

“You’re home early,” his mother said, still focused on her pots and pans. 

“For a good reason too,” Ness replied. “Look what I found in the woods.”

The boy’s face shot up and he slowly waved as his eyes met with those of Ness’s mother.

“Well would you look at that, I haven’t seen a new face around here for a while!” she exclaimed. “What’s your name?”

“L-L-Lucas.”

“No need to be shy, I won’t bite,” she laughed. “I can’t promise the same to my son here though.”

“Y-yes m-ma’am.”

Ness shuffled his friend away as his mother chuckled at his cripplingly shy demeanor.  
“We’ll be upstairs, can he stay for dinner?”

“Of course sweetie.”

“Great, thanks mom.” With all the confirmation he needed, Ness rushed up the stairs and nearly knocked his door over as he lazily plopped himself onto his soft bed. He snored obnoxiously as Lucas entered, feigning himself sleeping, soliciting a soft giggle from his friend. He sprung up, causing a loud thump to echo through his floorboards and shutting the door. 

“My mom must have been really distracted, I expected her to be all over you, you seem pretty beat up. What happened?”

Lucas’s eyes again shot to the ground and his lips silently whispered an answer Ness was now sure was untrue. He failed to even hear what the boy ended up saying in response. He was not the type to push anyways, if the boy wanted to keep it private, he had no reason to know. The boy’s fragile personality also kept him on edge from blurting out the wrong thing and driving him away. 

“Anyways,” Ness started, quickly shaking his head. “Of course you make the call, but I’d feel bad not asking you if you wanted new clothes. Your current ones seem a bit… worn.” On further observation, Ness realized how truly beaten up Lucas’s clothes were. They were torn and bedraggled, dirty and musty. It was a miracle the boy did not carry around a fetid odor with him. 

Lucas quickly shook his head, though gazed longingly at Ness’s drawer as he revealed sets of fresh, cleanly-washed clothing.

“You sure? It seems like you haven’t gotten a good new set of clothes in a while.

Ness pinched himself in anger at his blunt query as Lucas’s face lit up a bright red. He reached out his arm and sniffed, recoiling in disgust. Perhaps he was not completely spared from foul smell. His reasoning reached the boy through the mist of embarrassment and self-consciousness as he stopped and began to nod his head.

“Yeah? Good, I’ll see what I can find.” Ness truthfully had not expected the boy to agree, though he was still ecstatic the boy accepted his offer when he was clearly in need. Ness rummaged through his dresser, scattering t-shirts all around his room as he wondered why he owned so many of the same shirt and shorts. At the bottom of his drawer however, exiled under the mountains of actually used clothing, he found a bland blue t-shirt with a basic logo plastered on its back and to his surprise, the tag still fully attached. No wonder he did not recognize it. Content, he opened up the cabinet below to a similarly identical set of shorts, though they at least varied somewhat in shading and tone. He closed his eyes and dug his hands through the pile, removing a random pair and presented them on the floor in front of his friend.   
“I can just turn around, or you can go to the bathroom to change,” he offered. Unsurprisingly the boy chose the latter and exited the room, following Ness’s instructions to the nearest bathroom.

After a small delay, he remerged, donned in the provided clothing. Ness suddenly felt foolish as he noticed the size difference between him and his customer. He stifled a laugh as Lucas almost tripped over his shirt as it got caught between his legs as he returned. 

“Whoops, we may be just a little bit different sizes,” Ness laughed. “Honestly, you may be better off wearing clothes the size of my sister.” His jest held some truth, Lucas, if around his age as mature form suggested, was much smaller than average, possibly even around the size of Ninten, though he wisely decided to hold off on making fun of his almost miniature form. 

“G-gee, these are really big,” Lucas murmured. “I d-did not realize I was this s-short.” 

In reality, Ness was not drastically taller as the difference in clothing suggested, though he neglected to mention it was likely from his stouter form. Ninten called him fat, but he insisted he was just big-boned. When he snapped out of his disjointed thought, he saw Lucas leaning against his bed, exhausted.

“You can just sit on my bed if you want, it’s no big deal,” Ness suggested, though this time Lucas refused. Ness respected his wishes and let him be, soon looking over to find him slumped over and snoozing. Ness had not realized how tired he was as well, likely from carrying the boy for as long as he had, and lightly dozed off until his mother’s promise of dinner roused him. Rejuvenated, he sprung to his feet and lightly shook Lucas awake, motioning him to follow downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope ur enjoying so far


	4. Chaper von 4

Ninten slowly approached the bedraggled body spread across the ground. A torn military jacket of some kind lay across his chest accompanied by bright orange baggy shorts to match his hair, which was messy and covered in residue of his landing. Ninten had to admit, the boy’s fashion sense was not too impressive.

“Uh… hello?” He asked, though his question seemed to be heard only by the passing wind. “Anyone in there?” He prodded the figure’s leg, though found no reaction. The idea that the boy was now simply a dead corpse, washed up from who knows where now entered Ninten’s mind. He slowly backed away. Fear of being near a body devoid of life did cause him to keep his distance, instead he was cautious in approaching a potential crime scene. If the boy was still alive, all the better for him, but Ninten did not wish to take his chances. 

Eventually he sighed and his curiosity got the best of him, which he labeled as his natural urge to be an upstanding citizen. His legs lowered into a crouch as he kneeled next to the lifeless body. To his shock, just as he applied two finger’s to the boy’s neck to check for a pulse, the previously lifeless boy’s eyes shot open. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he found himself under the boy’s foot. He tried to breath but his lungs were held captive under his attacker’s weight. His eyes shot up in terror to find a sinister snarl pointed at him on the boy’s face as he continued to apply pressure to his victim’s chest. Served Ninten right for trying to do the right thing.

When he eventually threw the boy’s leg off of him, he froze in terror to find his lungs remained closed and his breath strained. Of course he would get an asthma attack now, when his life was already in immediate danger. He quickly fumbled around with his backpack and searched through it. The promising shape of his inhaler closed around his fingers, though when he brought it up, he found a fist lodged in his face. He flew back and his essential instrument fell from his grip, landing just over an arm’s reach away. Sweating profusely, Ninten quickly sprung out of the way of a lunge from the boy and dove for his inhaler. What little breath he had managed to steal slipped from his throat as his lungs cried for oxygen. In a final act of desperation, he held his free hand up in surrender as he shoved his plastic savior into his mouth, sighing in relief as oxygen again flowed freely through his lungs. To his surprise, the boy remained still.

With his primary and essential objective solved, Ninten wondered how to handle his aggressor. Should he retaliate? He did not doubt his ability to put up a good fight, but on the other hand the boy seemed to accept his surrender and had ceased his assault. As he pondered this, he again found himself quickly pinned under the boy’s foot. He sighed, cursing at himself.

“What do you even want? Who are you?” he demanded. 

“Where am I?” 

“What did I ever do to you?”

“I said, where am I?” the boy growled, applying further weight onto Ninten.

“P-Podunk, Podunk,” he quickly wheezed. “A town called Podunk.”

His captor looked around him before returning his gaze on Ninten.

“So, you gonna let me go or what?” 

No response.

“Hello, can you hear me?”

“Quiet,” he hissed. 

Ninten figured he must be thinking, pondering what to do with his new captive. He hoped the answer did not involve his own disposal. Pinned against the ground, Ninten had no choice but to gaze up at his attacker. How he had failed to previously notice, he was unsure, but strange, additions, if one could call them so, had attached themself to him. He first noticed a multitude of scars and other wounds lining his face. If his hostile demeanor was not warning enough, his battle-hardened physical features certainly was. Next, much to Ninten’s utter shock, one of the boy’s arms, the one not burdened with driving Ninten into the ground, was painted a sickening crimson and almost seemed to be dripping. Whether it oozed flesh or some other substance he was unsure, but it threatened to bring the food in his stomach back up in sickness. Wiggling one of his legs loose, Ninten quickly brought it to his knee and forced it into his attacker’s chest with all his force. Through this he discovered the boy’s chest was padded with some sort of metal plate. Unfortunately his discovery was quickly deemed too late, as his soaring foot quickly twisted in an unnatural angle, accompanied by a sickening crack. 

Ninten cried out in pain. He attempted to keep the dams of his eyes sturdy, but he could not help letting drops seep out. Soon the floodgates bursted completely, and he found himself sobbing with pain as his foot throbbed beneath him. The boy was not affected, ignoring Ninten’s pleads for mercy.

“W-what is your problem man?” he cried. “I think you just broke my foot!” Ninten held his breath and attempted to center what little concentration he had. He uttered a small phrase and tightly gripped his throbbing foot, sighing with relief as warmth seeped through it and its impossible angle corrected itself. The previously intolerable hollering of pain from his injury was reduced to a dull moan. He looked up to notice his attacker staring at him in surprise. Ninten silently cursed to himself for revealing his psychokinetic capabilities to this boy threatening him, though his foot thanked him. Now that he had blown any guise of a normal helpless stranger, Ninten figured there was no choice but to show the extent of his abilities to escape the situation. 

He closed his eyes once again, envisioning his bedroom, his television, his beanbag, the strange stain on the carpet from his dog. To his disappointment, when his eyes flickered open he still remained in his perilous position. He groaned in anger. Perhaps his home was too far away to access in such a panicked situation. Visions of the forest around him, just anywhere but where he currently lay entered Ninten’s mind. He gathered his breath in one last hope and forced his eyes closed. 

Ninten would have assumed the lack of pressure of his attacker or proximity of the dirty ground to his face would be clear indicators of his success, though he was surprised and relieved to find himself laying against a tree when he anxiously opened his eyes again. He let out a sigh of relief. He had not, at least successfully, teleported in a while. He cursed at himself for denying practice. Though he was no longer in immediate danger at the mercy of that psychopath he found laying in the woods, he was not in the clear either. Ninten feared he had not transported himself very far away. The brushing of the flora just behind the tree he was situated behind and a quick glance around his barrier confirmed his suspicions. The boy was only about seven paces away, though clearly surprised at his target’s sudden disappearance. As he swung his head around and scanned his immediate surroundings, Ninten slipped behind the tree protecting him again. He held a sneaking suspicion that another successful teleport would not grace him. 

Based on the boy’s previous physical prowess, Ninten feared he could not outrun him if discovered, leaving his only chance of safety in an offensive strike. He carefully and silently glided the zipper of his backpack open and extracted his baseball bat. Then, as the boy turned, he ran at him. His feet swung forwards in a desperate charge, though when he arms brandished his weapon at the boy, he was met with a flying elbow to his chest, crippling him to the ground once more. He swung his bat in a blind rage and failed to connect. A foot suddenly lodged in his stomach forced out a cry of pain as his hands flailed, dropping his weapon. Fortunately though, Ninten was prepared. Quickly whispering another incantation, he braced for impact for a strike that failed to connect. Though his teleportation was rusty, he had practiced a different and arguably more useful ability, at least in combat, speed. The world did not slow down to a near halt and his attacker’s foot still posed in imminent threat if he were not to quickly move, but he was at least quick enough to at least have the benefit of reaction time. 

He rolled out of the way and got to his feet as the boy’s foot finally landed, though now to the empty ground below him. Ninten rushed over to his bat and swung it at his attacker’s legs. A satisfying crack sent the boy tumbling to the ground, though to Ninten’s surprise he sprung right back up, now in a ready stance. Ninten brought his weapon back up to his shoulder, readied it again, and swung straight at the boy’s chest. This time he did not even connect. The boy somehow, despite his opponent’s accelerated movement, snatched the bat out of the air and twisted it out of Ninten’s grip. The power coursing through Ninten began to wane and flicker, rousing panic. He had expected to have swiftly defeated or at least disabled his opponent, though had achieved neither. With all feasible options exhausted, Ninten had no choice but to surrender.

“All right, all right, don’t shoot… er whatever,” he cried as his hands shot into the air above his head. “I surrender.”

His opponent did not seem convinced. Still silent, he shoved Ninten to his knees and ran his hands down his clothes to eliminate any threat of other weapons.

Ninten furrowed his brows in annoyance “There, you happy?”

The boy finally opened his mouth again, though not in response to Ninten’s query. “Who are you?” 

It was Ninten’s turn to remain silent as he formulated a response. 

“Well?”

“Ninten,” he mumbled. This kid seemed like serious business and Ninten feared the repercussions of any fake pseudonym being shattered later, so he settled with telling the truth. After an uncomfortable silence, he spoke up again. “Wanna tell me who you are, or…”

Ninten was surprised to see confusion possess the boy’s face at such a simple question. He rose his hand to his face in ponderance, and eventually settled on an answer. “Claus, my name’s Claus. Claus… Yes, I have a brother - a twin - Lucas.” He seemed to be responding to himself instead of Ninten, rousing confusion. Suddenly, his hands closed around the collar of the shorter boy’s shirt. “Where’s Lucas?”

Ninten’s initial reaction was of shock. “W-who? Lucas? How am I supposed to know, I’ve never heard of him!”

His aggressor began quickly pacing back and forth, eyes locked on the ground directly underneath him. Ninten considered bolting then and there, but still feared the boy would have no trouble catching up to him. He quietly sank down against a tree and watched helplessly.

Suddenly, the other boy snapped to attention and grabbed Ninten again. “Take me to him.”

“To who?”

“To Lucas! To my brother, are you deaf?”

Ninten’s face reddened as its features scrunched up in anger. “I just told you, I have no idea who that is! Now can I please go?”

“How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Teleport. You just did it.”

“No I can’t. What makes you think I can?” Ninten figured casting a bluff would be worth a try. It quickly deemed unsuccessful, as the boy tightened his grip on his collar, slowly squeezing his neck.

“I’m not messing around. How did you do it?”

Ninten sighed in defeat. Not only had he failed to escape the boy, he had revealed his powers in vain. He may as well have taped a target right to his back. “It’s psi. It’s some sort of brain magic that lets you do cool… stuff.” Well put.

A flash of recognition struck the boy’s face for a second, though quickly faded as he returned to his aggressive expression. After a long delay and an increasingly blank expression grown on his face, he released his prisoner and stepped back.

“So… can I go now?”

To Ninten’s surprise, the boy nodded in approval. Without a second thought, Ninten took off in the opposite direction. Without looking back, he let his legs carry him as far away as possible from the boy back to his abode. He had experienced enough excitement for the day, and his self-proclaimed near-death experience provided him an excuse to return home. When the unmistakable tips of houses appeared over the horizon, peering through the now thin layer of clouds gathered in the sky, Ninten slowed his pace to a halt. Now close enough to let his mind take over, he shut his eyes and imagined his bedroom once more. He focused his breath and allowed his arms to lay limp against his legs. The picture of his room began to solidify itself in his mind, and before Ninten knew it, the cold nip of the outside wind instantly faded and a euphoric wave of heat seeped into his body. He opened his eyes to find himself in his room once more, accompanied by the loud buzz of the air conditioning. His sisters must have cranked it while he was gone. Suddenly, he remembered his assigned duty to watch said siblings for who knows how long. Hopefully his parents would never discover he had left them on their own for a while, though little fear arose in him.

Suddenly, the sharp ringing of the phone struck the air, shaking Ninten from his stupor. Sighing, he lazily trotted over to the nearest telephone, that being in his room and slowly picked it up to his ear.

“This isn’t a great time, so if you could just-”

“Hey Ninten, this is Ness.”

Ninten clenched his fist in anger. The only way to shake off his friend was to outright hang up the phone, but he knew better do so. “Yeah,” he groaned. “What is it”

“Can you teleport over here real quick, I got somethin’ to show ya’.”

“Does it have to be right now? I’m really tired man.”

“Yes right now. Seeya.” Before Ninten could reply, the phone flatlined, signifying his friend had hung up. 

One of the reasons Ninten neglected teleporting, despite its inherent benefits, was its taxation on his body. He could already feel his shoulders droop as he fought his eyelids to remain open. Now he had to do it again. Sighing once more, he imagined his friend’s bedroom, which he knew quite well, and closed his eyes. After what could have been five seconds or a minute, he groggily lifted his eyelids and looked around. Ninten’s bed replaced his own in the corner, and posters of baseball lined the walls, signifying his arrival. Just as he did so, the door swung open, revealing his friend. Ninten snapped to attention when he saw another boy, donned in a bright blond crown of hair, stepped out from behind him and stared at him with wide eyes. It did not take long for Ninten’s brain to register where he had seen his face before. He was almost identical to the fiery-haired boy from earlier. If he did not know better, he would have assumed they were the same person, but the boy’s words from earlier rang in his ears. He had just found Lucas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> longer chapter pog?


	5. Chappety Chappety Five-five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit of a length chapter here, at least compared to the others

The smell of a fresh home-cooked meal had failed to grace Lucas’s nose for good while, he figured at least since he mother stopped cooking meals for his family. Such whiffs brought waves of saliva to his mouth as he looked down to see his stomach almost physically rumble in desperation for the coming meal. 

“When was the last time you ate man?” a voice behind him chuckled. Lucas slightly flinched in shock. He had forgotten about the boy next to him, the boy who would soon introduce him to the wondrous meal awaiting him. The boy who certainly did not know or expect the true answer to his own query. Lucas forced a small smile onto his face, looking down at the floor. Appreciation for the boy resided currently in the extended grace of a free warm meal and shelter, though this was tempered by his rampant enthusiasm. Lucas was never sure how to properly answer his rambunctious host, he always seemed surprised by whatever answer he supplied him with. Perhaps it was better to simply bow down in obedience and adapt. 

The distant echoes of an exclamation entered Lucas’s ears, causing a pivot in his head to the boy right as his face met with a wall. He held his head in pain, looking around. Without realization, he had far-passed the stairwell and continued without halt as if there was not a solid wall quickly approaching. He profusely blushed through a burst of outright laughter by the boy behind him.

He raised his hand to Lucas’s shoulder. “Sorry dude, you okay?”

Lucas slowly nodded, though he was unsure what he had just agreed to. A group of framed pictures on the wall had successfully caught his eyes and reeled him in. They appeared to be of the boy and his family throughout a wide variety of ages. He instantly recognized the boy’s childish face in every frame. It had not much changed and to be honest, Lucas saw only a larger version of the boy in the picture standing beside him.

“Pretty cool huh?” He suddenly spoke, rousing Lucas from his stupor. “Funny thing, I’ve had this hat, the very same one, for a really long time, though it only now fits just right. It’s from my dad, he got it for me before I can even remember.” Lucas traced a subtle tone of gloom in the boy’s voice, a sharp departure from his usual cheery and explosive demeanor. On closer inspection, he soon realised a key figure absent in almost every photo. Only in an old, lower-quality photo, likely taken when Ness was just a little kid, his father was present, ruffling his hair and twirling his baseball cap on his finger. Sorrow at the boy’s loss immediately entered Lucas’s mind, he was certainly no stranger to the sudden extraction of a family member dear to him. 

He must have oozed pity, as Ness quickly corrected himself. “He’s not dead or anything, don’t worry. He’s just…” He paused. “You know what, never mind. Doesn’t matter.” He hastily shooed his guest towards a large wooden table centered in the kitchen, perfectly decorated with accessories to the coming meal. The boy’s mother placed down a plate of food and smiled at the boys at their arrival. Lucas could not help but feel a twinge of escaped sadness in his mind. He had near-fully convinced himself he was over such feelings about his own mother, though in reality failed to deny them. While he certainly was not the envious type and bore no ill will towards Ness, a small cluster of jealousy poked out from inside his brain. He quickly shook it out of his head. 

“You can sit here,” Ness motioned. “Though you’re the guest, so anywhere works I guess.” Lucas was not sure if the boy’s subtext was actively imposed, though he quickly accepted the initial seat offered. The soft cushioning of the chair and sturdy back was a welcome reintroduction into his life. It certainly trumped dinners keeled over a campfire and nothing but rocks around to use as furniture. 

The boy soon took a seat right next to his guest, followed by his mother and eventually a younger girl who looked as if she had just awoken from a nap. 

“Who’s this guy, and what’s he doing here?” she blurted out. Her mother quickly shushed her and looked over at Lucas with sympathy.

“That is not how we treat guests, Tracy. This is your brother’s new friend, Ness. He met him while he was out exploring today.”

“You mean walking around an empty forest with a backpack full of garbage?” the young girl quickly retorted, earning a glare from Ness.

“No, it's exploring. Who knows what kind of stuff could be out there? At least I can handle it too. What would have happened if Lucas bumped into a Starman or something? Also, my backpack has very useful stuff in it. It holds my bat.”

“When’s the last time that got any use?”

“Come closer, and you’ll find out,” Ness mumbled under his breath. Lucas could not help himself but chuckle slightly as the boy’s mother quieted down her quarreling children, earning a smile from his host. 

Ness’s mother got up to retrieve plates carrying various foods, quickly receiving aid from her son, who took the chance to search the plate for the elusive best cut of meat.

“Ness, let your guest choose first please,” his mother chided.

Lucas sat in silence for an awkward moment before realizing the gaze of the whole table in his direction expectantly. “H-huh? Oh, I-I’m happy with any, t-thank you.”

Ness happily patted him on the back and resumed his search.

“Thank you v-very kindly for this meal ma’am,” Lucas spoke up again. “Though, m-may I ask what this is?” He instantly regretted opening his mouth, shying away from the sudden glances of the Ness and his family.

Ness laughed, though quickly quieted down, staring at his guest’s unfaltering expression. 

“No way bro!” he exclaimed.” You’ve never seen a good ol’-fashioned burger before?”

Lucas shook his head in embarrassment. He hated feeling left out of such seemingly common knowledge, it made him feel foolish. 

“Have you really never seen burgers before?” the boy’s mom mused. Her face quickly changed to an expression of lowered brows and widened eyes.

“W-well, I guess I have, but not up close. I-I’ve never tasted one either.” Lucas hoped Ness’s mother did not suspect he was merely fibbing for attention. Truthfully, as he had asserted, the mysterious cuisine in front of him had never entered his mouth. He remembered seeing it in the large city he visited, though there it did not look particularly appetizing. Drenched in fat and oil, he had seen it consumed by the disgusting Pig Mask army men and was glad to stick with his own diet of nut bread and beef jerky. However, the meat patty placed in front of him seemed reminiscent only in name, its general qualities now seemed much more appealing. He observed its crisp exterior sheltering a soft and chewy inside, situated between two tanned buns. Its simpler composition suggested Ness’s own mother had made them, a note Lucas was glad of. His own mother had rarely failed to cook him an unsatisfactory meal.

As he rose the new taste to his mouth, Ness’s mother placed down a large plate of long yellow sticks. What they were called exactly, Lucas could not remember, but they must have been tasty, as Ness wasted not a second scooping a large handful onto his plate. His mother sighed and passed the plate to Lucas, who shyly grasped it. The last impression Lucas wanted to excrete in his hosts’ first impression of him was rudeness, though if he slipped a decent portion onto his plate and despised them, would that be any better? 

“If you don’t want any, don’t feel to need to take any,” Ness’s mother softly chimed in from his side. Lucas’s eyes focused once more, now realizing the plate was shaking from his nervous grip on it. He gulped a quickly slid a small amount onto his own plate. Enough to show he was interested, yet little enough to give off the impression that he had consumed at least some of it. Content with his happy medium, he handed the plate to the woman across from him who placed it in the middle of the table.

The room settled into a tense silence as the rest of the table hardily pit into their meals. Lucas slowly rose his to his mouth and sunk his teeth in a meager bite. Quickly biting off the small portion, a train of flavor hit his tongue and rundown his throat, opening the large gap in his stomach. Lucas had forgotten how hungry he was. Suddenly, the meal in front of him appeared quite appetizing in his starved state. Abandoning his cautious pretenses, Lucas quickly chowed down on his meal, tearing through it with haste he did not recognize in himself. Before he knew it, only a small chunk of bread remained from the once daunting goliath. Lucas suppressed a burp and his stomach scrambled to deal with the sudden influx of food he had consumed. He looked up meekly to see the rest of the tables’ eyes pinned on him in surprise. 

“Geeze, you must have a really quick metabolism or something,” Ness commented. His mother had a different theory.

“When was the last time you had a good meal like this, dear?” She asked delicately. Lucas’s face was now burning red as he quickly shrugged. “Are you getting enough food at home? The query was of care and compassion, though to Lucas it was anything but. His mind raced for a suitable answer while his mouth hung open. Eventually, he nodded, returning his eyes to the floor. 

“I thought I was a quick eater,” Ness added. “That was like… lightning-speed of somethin’. You should grab another one. The satisfaction of the burger begged Lucas to grab another though his stomach argued otherwise. He quickly doubled over in pain as sickness obscured his vision. Apparently consuming an acceptable meal at breakneck speed after months of near-starvation and hunger did not sit well with the stomach. 

“B-b-bathroom. Where is it?” Lucas gasped, clutching his stomach as it screamed at him for his ignorant actions.

Ness’s mother pointed him in its direction and wore a concerned expression on her face. Lucas quickly hobbled away and slid the door open. He made sure to shut the door tight behind him and doubled over the toilet. With little resistance, a sickening green wave shot out as he hovered above the now-murky waters. After around ten seconds of sickness, Lucas stood up against the wall and sighed in exasperation. 

Immediately, his mind shot to his hosts just outside of his stomach’s breakdown. His face flushed red with embarrassment once more, though fortunately only he was present to see it in the mirror facing him. He could swear his face appeared almost sickeningly green and his hair fell over in a messy tangle. After readjusting his hair, Lucas pressed his ear to the door. He was not proud to listen in on a conversation he was not a part of, though his curiosity and angst forced him to see a reaction from his witnesses.

“Is he… okay?” He heard Ness whisper.

“I don’t know,” his mother responded. “Can you go check on him?”

“Sure.” Lucas quickly backed away from the door as the shifting of a chair and nearing footprints echoes into the bathroom. He opened the door just as Ness reached him.

“Hey man, you okay?” he asked. Concern was written on his face, and to Lucas’s surprise was not a simple facade of pity. 

“Y-yeah, I-I think…” Lucas raised his head from the toilet and quickly averted his eyes from his sickening outburst. He could feel his knees colliding with each other as he exited the bathroom and heard the water rush down the toilet. Quietly he returned to the table. To his dismay and embarrassment, it seemed as though his hosts had heard his accident.

“Are you okay dear?” Ness’s mother asked tenderly, garnering a small nod. To his surprise, she quickly dropped the topic and continued eating. A small smile perked at the tips of Lucas’s lips. 

Ness also returned to his seat after clearing the bathroom and continued eating.

“So Lucas,” his mother continued as if nothing had just interrupted their dinner. “Where do you live? Around here I would assume.” 

After Ness posed the same question, Lucas should have expected another coming, though he had failed to formulate a response. Instead he once more found fascination in the floor below. “Uh… Y-yeah, around here I guess. Yeah. My family moved in recently.” 

“Oh, that would explain it. Maybe you and Ness could spend some time together. Do you live in Onett or Twoson, or in a smaller neighborhood of the sorts?” 

Her constant barrage of questions sent Lucas’s mind spinning in search for answers. Fortunately, his quick wit graced him once more and he now confidently responded, “Y-yeah, a small neighborhood. N-not sure what it’s c-called or even w-where it is.” 

“Wait, were you completely lost when I found you?” Ness cut in between bites.

Lucas nodded.

“Would you like another?” the woman offered, though Lucas quickly shook his head, still holding his stomach. “Looks like you could use a good meal or two.” Lucas hesitantly nodded. He wished she would stop bringing it up. 

A sudden break in eye contact to escape the conversation revealed the scraps of Ness’s meal, sparing only a few soggy and lonely bits. He quickly extended his arm and reached for another burger, though his mother stopped him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Ness.”

To Lucas’s surprise, he lowered his hand in annoyance and returned it to his side. ‘Why not mom?”  
“Cause you need to go on a diet, that’s why,” his sister quickly chirped smugly. “I doubt you even fit in the clothes mom got you a month ago.”

Ness glared daggers at her, quickly retorting. “Oh yeah at least my brain’s bigger than a peanut.”

“That doesn’t even make sense, you know I’m smarter than you.”

“Th-That’s… nuh-uh!”

“Okay, that’s enough.” The sudden intervention of the adult across from the bickering siblings quickly silenced their quarrel, though failed to cease their hostile glares. “We do not talk like that when we have a guest, I’m sorry about that Lucas. Ness, you and your guest are excused. Tracy, help me with the dishes.” 

An anger grown from his sister signified a victory for Ness, who suddenly snapped right back into his cheery demeanor and escorted Lucas out the door. 

“Wanna play baseball or somethin’?” 

“I-I… I don’t k-know what that is.”

Ness feigned great offense as he collapsed to the ground in shock. Lucas’s smile left him laughing as he got to his feet. “Actually, it’s no problem. I’d be happy to share some professional experience, if you know what I mean.”

Lucas did not, but his mentor quickly proved his worth in the sport as he quickly tossed a ball in the air and smashed it with a sturdy wooden bat, sending it flying away into the streets. “Never gets old.” He tossed a leather object at Lucas and ran after the ball. Lucas had no clue what it was. Perhaps the sport was more complex than initially expected. Ness soon returned panting and sweating, though he held the ball in his hand. “That’s a glove by the way,” he explained, taking Lucas’s palm and sliding it through an opening in its bottom. “You use it to catch the ball. Cause otherwise it would probably hurt.” A quick toss of the ball in the air revealed Lucas’s incompetence as it hit the top of his glove and bounced to the ground, lending on his foot. “Here, lemme show you how it's done.”

After a while of solo practice, Ness began to throw the ball to Lucas’s open mitt. It was almost like restarting his whole progress, proving itself much more difficult, but Lucas soon caught on. After opening his glove to find the ball wrapped in his hand for his first successful catch, Lucas could not help but smile as Ness cheered in the background. 

“Ness, telephone!” his mother suddenly cried from the open doorway, interrupting Lucas’s moment of triumph. Ness scurried to his mother and took the phone. He seemed somewhat annoyed at the recipient of his voice, though he eventually sighed, agreed to something Lucas did not overhear, and hung up.

“Hey wanna see a magic trick?” he asked as he rejoined his friend. Lucas shrugged. “Good enough, now grab my arm.” Lucas complied and was quickly yanked forward. He looked down to realize he was now running, dragging behind Ness. To his surprise, Ness began to reach considerable speeds as they sprinted in a straight line. Lucas unwillingly shrieked as they quickly approached the outer wall of a nearby house. Lucas closed his eyes and ended his body for an impact that never came. After a while, he realized he was no longer moving and cautiously opened his eyes. He did not recognize his new location and stared around in confusion. Ness was not bluffing, it was quite the trick. He glanced up to see a boy, capped in a similar hat, approaching Ness. To his utter shock, an unmissable tuff of red hair stuck out from behind him. He sidestepped to reveal an almost identical figure to Lucas. He had no idea how, but his brother had returned.


	6. Chapuh Suks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fight on da school playground? :0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its been awhile :o

Claus held his brother tight as the blonde sobbed into his chest. He would never again leave him in the same situation, that he vowed to himself. 

“D-d-dang it,” his brother gasped between sobs. “I told m-m-myself I wasn’t gonna cry again… I-I’m g-gonna be strong, like you.”

Claus dismissed the opportunity to correct his brother’s lack of confidence as he was instead focused on grasping his back with equal strength as if they were never to be united again. 

“I-I thought I w-w-wasn’t even gonna see you a-again,” the blonde warbled on. “I c-can’t believe y-your’e here!” 

Claus could barely grasp it himself. The last thing he remembered before his awakening was a sorrowful glance at his brother preceded by the intense stabbing of electricity coursing through his broken body and finally putting him to rest. Now he was back, deformed, less than human. An already deep and intense fear that his brother would reject him had tormented his mind, though it all seemed silly now as he continued to hug him. 

“I-I’m sorry,” the sobbing mass continued. “I r-really seem p-p-pathetic right now, d-don’t I?”

Claus did not respond. His silence did not confirm his brother’s woes, in fact it performed the opposite. He was sure he could not be more proud of his younger twin. While his broken-down form and tearful demeanor would not suggest it, he was a new person from the coddled and albeit comparatively weak boy he had previously known. Memories of his battles as the Masked Man with him flashed back into his mind. He remembered being patched up and stitched back together after such encounters, and while it was excruciating at the time, the knowledge that his own brother was capable of delivering such injuries made it all worth it. 

The blonde’s large blue eyes rose from the ground and stared him in the face. “Y-you’re not crying?”

“I...I’m sorry,” Claus replied. Tears had never easily fallen down his cheeks, especially after his transformation into the emotionless machine he lived as for so long. He wanted more than anything to finally once more feel the warm droplets of tears streak down his cheeks, but they simply refused. His days of crying were long passed, despite his wishes.

His twin quickly corrected himself “N-no, it’s okay. I k-know you’re too strong for that. Y-you always were the s-strong one.”

Claus firmly shook his head. Once he had prided himself for his toughness, often comparing himself to his much more tender counterpart, though now he regretted it now more than ever. He could not reciprocate the feelings he knew should be gracing him, he simply no longer functioned that way. To compensate, he squeezed his brother even tighter and refused to break apart until his rampant emotions subsided. 

Eventually Lucas was ready and released his firm grip on Claus. He wiped away the remaining tears that escaped his puffy red eyes as he stepped back.

“That… that was really something huh?” a voice from behind Claus popped the bubble enveloping the two siblings. He had forgotten about the other two boys watching them and who had reunited them. He already held a vague vendetta against the shorter capped boy that approached him when he awoke, but his gratitude overrode it as he squeezed his brother's hand. 

“So… you brothers or something?” the other boy next to him bluntly asked, garnering a slap from the other beside him.

“What are you stupid?” he quickly spouted. “Obviously, they’re practically identical.”

“W-We’re twins,” Lucas replied, still sniffling. “I-I thought he was d-dead.”

“I was,” Claus blankly corrected. “Or maybe still am.” He raised his mangled and distorted arm to eye level, splashing disgusting puddles on the ground.

Lucas clearly had not noticed it until this clear display. “W-what is that?” His face quickly filled with a sick color and he bent over. “S-sorry,” he moaned right before throwing up into the grass, covering the crimson splotches already situated there.

“That thing, or whatever it is, is disgusting man,” Ness recoiled.

The shorter boy failed to construct a witty insult, his eyes were instead latched on the hideous red mass sprouting from Claus’s shoulder.

“Looks like where my mechanical arm used to be,” he responded. “Better this than that I guess.”

“Not to me,” Ninten muttered as he quickly averted his eyes. “Any other hideous disfigurements?”

It was Ness’s turn to slap his friend. “Way to be sensitive. How do you think he feels having that thing as an arm? No offense by the way.”

Claus found it difficult to rile any offense at the statement, it was hard not to instantly feel nauseous at the sight of his disgusting new arm. “A lot of scars, I would assume. At least, that’s what it feels like.” He padded himself down, unsurprisingly yet frustratingly wincing at various different bruises scattered throughout his body, until his palm made a metallic rumble against his chest. Extending his collar with his untouched hand and staring down, he noticed a thick metal plate lining and covering most of his chest and looping around to his back. He felt foolish for not earlier remembering this, it was his most uncomfortable modification. He remembered back to his days a slave and servants to his tyrannical master. He did not dare question anything to him, though his irremovable chest piece would be the first if he were to. “There’s this… thing,” he muttered as he pulled down his collar. The metal plate immediately caught the rays of sunlight above and directed it into the smaller capped boy’s eyes. 

“Wow,” Ness marveled. “That’s really cool dude. What else you got?”

Claus’s brows quickly furrowed as he released his collar and grabbed the boy’s as his fist rose. “No it’s not “cool”. It’s the opposite actually.”

“Jeez dude, okay,” the boy quickly responded, raising his arms in the air before being harshly shoved away.

A long following silence as eventually broken by the boy. “So… everyone good here?”

“Y-yeah…” 

“I guess.”

Claus did not respond. He suddenly fiercely gripped his brother’s arm and yanked him away from the two other boys, garnering complaints from him.

“Sorry, sorry,” Claus muttered. “Lucas, do you know these people? You really shouldn’t stick around strangers, especially these guys. Something about them puts me off. Also-”

“C-Claus, it’s okay, I k-know that one,” he interrupted, pointing at the bigger boy standing behind them. “His n-name is Ness and he’s r-really nice. He just g-gave me dinner.”

Claus was not convinced. “You really have to be careful here, who knows what they really want from you?”

“I-I don’t know, a f-friend I guess?”

“I don’t know about you, but I just got here. We have no idea where we even are, so how do we know these people aren’t rabid cannibals or something?” Claus grabbed his brother’s shoulders and stared into his eyes with a serious expression.

“W-well… I g-guess you’re right. So what are we s-supposed to do?”

Claus’s hands slid down Lucas’s arms and grasped his own hands, pulling him along. “Follow me, we’re getting out of here.” 

“B-but Claus-”

“Listen to me, okay.” His serious expression morphed into a hostile glare. Lucas shifted nervously in his suffocating grip. “I know what’s best for us okay? You’ve gotten this far, now let me handle it from here.”

“W-we can’t j-just leave them-”

A surge of anger suddenly erupted from Claus’s mouth. “What don’t you understand?” he yelled, shaking his brother. “I’m trying to get us out of here in one piece!” The outburst was short yet devastating. Claus immediately wished he had just kept his mouth shut, or even better, dragged his stubborn brother along with him with space for no questions. Instead, Lucas began to tear up in front of him, causing Claus to hastily fling off his grip and step back in shame. “Lucas, I-I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” His amends were ineffective and Lucas’s eyes again flooded and flowed with a salty river of tears. Though his brother was physically tougher than he had ever imagined he could be, his mental fragility persisted, tormenting him even in his reborn state. Claus stepped in towards his brother to further apologize but was quickly cut off by Ness, who pushed him aside and leaned into Lucas, harboring his tears.

“Hey dude, what’s your problem?” he yelled. “You made your own brother cry… again!”

“Well the first time was because he was happy-” Ninten added, but was swiftly discarded.

“It doesn’t matter man, look at him. Is that how you always treat your brother?” Lucas’s fit of tears slowly reduced itself to small sniffles once more as Ness wiped his fallen blonde locks out of his eyes.

“Th-thanks,” he mumbled.

Claus could not resist the epic rage that overtook him when he witnessed such an occurrence between his twin and the stranger he had just met. Before his own mind processed what he saw, he found himself sinking a fist into the boy’s stomach, crippling him to the ground. He embraced his unbridled anger and continued his assault through kicks and pummels while the smaller capped boy attempted to hold him back and Lucas pleaded for him to cease.

“You think you know my own twin brother better than me?” he screamed. “Well maybe you do, cause apparently you’re his new best friend, his new brother!”

“I didn’t say that!” the defenseless boy gasped through blows. “I’m just trying to help him!” The attempts to quell his aggressor’s raging tempor failed as strikes continued to pour down on him. 

Claus had not considered ceasing his attack and did not do so until a blast of energy shot out from the boy below him, blasting him back onto the ground a good few yards away. His head suddenly aching from the impact, Claus was in awe at the sudden turning of the conflict until he saw the resting particles of the blast flutter to the ground and shatter. The boy had psi, like him. Despite his injuries, a smirk crept onto Claus’s face. If it was a fight the boy wanted, he would not fail to deliver himself. As expected, his opponent was off guard and distracted from his recent strike, serving as an opening for Claus to raise his uninjured hand in the air and conjure an attack of his own. The three boys’ across from his eyes trained to the sky, where a gathering of storm-gray clouds formed above Claus. With a yell, he channeled the energy of the sky into an attack, pouring lightning from his fingertips to his opponent.

Ness had not expected such a counterstrike. The sudden joltage coursed through his body in excruciating pain, shocking his hat right off his head as his hair stood up. Claus’s grin expanded as he witnessed the shocked and dizzy state of his opponent as he rushed in for a follow-up. To his surprise however, the boy reached quickly and snatched a wooden bat from his backpack and slammed it into Claus’s chest.

For once, Claus was thankful for the metal implanted in his body, as it beared the brunt of the force, leaving only a small shock of pain left for his nerves. He was not down for long and quickly leaped to his feet, only to be met with another equally powerful strike slamming him from the back. This time Claus was not so lucky. A stabbing pain shot through his back with a sickening crunch and he hunched over in agony, though he only admitted small grunts of pain.

Lucas suddenly rushed to his side, holding his hands above to defend Claus from a strike Ness would not deliver on his beaten opponent.

“Claus. Claus are you okay?” he cried.

Claus only groaned in return. He tried to formulate some sort of cohesive response but the pain overrode his mind and the world began to spin around him.

“Did y-… break his-…” he managed to pick out from the increasingly blurred speech above him before his eyes and ears gave up entirely. Only his nerves were left, still screaming in pain. Claus was unsure if it was just his imagination, but a sudden pressure exerted on his leg as if someone had placed their hand on him. A warm flow spread through his crippled figure, replacing the scorching pain he had previously beared. His eyes slowly flickered open to see Lucas tenderly crouched above him wearing a horrified expression.

“A-Are you okay Claus?”

“Mmm-ugh,” was all Claus could manage to blurt out before his eyes closed once more and the world faded around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback always appreciated, lemme know what you think :)


End file.
